CAMINO DE SANTIAGO - PART 15 - LEON - VILLAR de MAZERIFE

The walk out of Leon was very beautiful.  Pre sunrise starts were such a wonderful part of walking for me. The light was so lovely and it is just such a perfect time of day.

As was becoming the norm, this also ended up becoming an amusing day of walking. I was aiming for Villar de Mazarife and was pottering along quite nicely when Ben caught up to me. I had met him for the first time in Mansilla. He had had two big nights in a row (in Mansilla where apparently he did a great job serenading the hospitalero and another one in Leon). So, when he caught me just past Leon, he was going quite slowly and we walked on together. The conversation was obviously interesting because we completely missed the turn that we were supposed to make to get to Villar de Mazarife. The road we were on meant we would miss Mazarife and be on the “main road” track until half way through the next day. We cut across at San Miguel, adding a few km onto the day. So much for trying to rest my dodgy leg. Anyway, the company was good and we caught up to the others (including Philipp, also post big night out in Leon!) at Chozas de Abajo. It was great to see everyone and made the detour more than worthwhile. 

Stayed at the Casa de Jesus Albergue. It was an interesting spot with a swimming pool, a guitar and a ship in the garden. It was a very good, relaxing afternoon. 

Just in case you did not believe me about the ship in the garden.

The walls of the albergue had been covered by messages and drawings left by previous pilgrims. I had a good laugh when I saw one of the messages left next to my bed. Firstly, it comes from my favourite Dr Seuss book, “Oh The Placed You’ll Go”. Secondly, I have always been a little challenged when it comes telling my left from my right and when I looked down, having read the quote, I noted with amusement that the socks I was wearing,  which were clearly labeled “L” and “R”, were on the wrong feet. I wondered if this would decrease my 98 and 3/4 per cent chance of success.